Stuff: Abin Sur Has Selected His Successor

Feeling overwhelmed with pop culture news? Don’t worry. It happens to us all the time and we’re professionals. Don’t worry. We’ve got this. Enjoy.

So we’ve got a Green Lantern. Ryan Reynolds has come on board with production starting January and a 2011 release date. This is what we call DC/Warner Brothers coming to their senses after the “brilliant” idea to have Jack Black play the role. I think Jack Black rocks as much as the next webmaster–but seriously, Ryan Reynolds is Hal Jordan. Jack Black is G’nort. You follow? Anyway, DC/WB wants an Iron Man out of this. Translation: people don’t know this character as well as our Bigass Tentpole Characters (BTC) but if we do this right we can have a killer franchise. DC/WB, free advice–remember the 300 Trailer Test. Source.

So the District 9 trailer is making lots of people talk. With good reason. It looks freaking fantastic.

So from Steve Carell to Mel Gibson, apparently. The previously mentioned The Beaver will star Gibson instead of Carell and be directed by Jodie Foster who will also star. If you don’t recall, this is about the guy who deals with his depression by wearing and interacting with a beaver hand puppet. Would really like to give that script a read, since it seems to be spoken of so highly. Source.

Will Smith and director Francis Lawrence are getting back together for The City That Sailed, in which a NYC street magician’s (Smith) daughter who lives in England and wishes to get her father back, thus causing Manhattan to start its passage across the Atlantic. Andrew Niccol wrote the original script, but now it’s being rewritten by Brian Koppelman and David Levien from Ocean’s Thirteen. io9 is the pillar of misplaced optimism, thinking that this ensures the pair of Smith and Lawrence will be too busy to do the aforementioned I Will Eventually Become Legend. But if City goes nowhere, the prequel could come back to life just like that. Reminder: be ever vigilant for bad movie ideas. And just like a vampire, don’t assume it’s dead until the head’s chopped off, you’ve stuffed the mouth with garlic and buried it next to the remaining copies of Mac and Me.

Owly is getting 3-D animated by Sprite Animation and the animated short hits at San Diego Comic-Con. If you don’t know Owly, then I feel I must warn you: Andy Runton’s series is from Top Shelf and it’s one of the most ridiculously cute comics you will ever lay eyes upon. Not only cute, it’s brilliant in that the characters speak in pictures, so it’s universal–no translation needed. Get some for yourself here.

Speaking of animation, check out this trailer for The Secret of Kells:

I dig the hell out of that style. Sadly, it’s making the rounds internationally but no date for stateside release. It’s finally getting a U.S. premiere, though, at 11am on both July 18th and 19th at the IFC Center in NYC. Anybody want to review it for us?

Thinkgeek is apparently seriously considering turning their April’s Fool Tauntaun Sleeping Bag into a reality. Damn straight. Who wouldn’t want one of those? As a sobering side note, though, the article at Consumerist points out that Empire Strikes Back turns thirty next year. Yes, you can come over here and cry into the beverage of your choice with the rest of us.

Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) will direct Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for Working Title. In a frightening extra bit in the article, the remake rights–true to the Law of Relative Development–have been snagged for Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) to helm.